14 DAY TRIAL // The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William and Kate Middleton, who is now expecting her second child, are now on a tour of the US. The other night, they stopped by the Barclay Center in Brooklyn, where they attended the Nets vs. Cavaliers game.
There, they met with huge names in US showbiz, including singer Beyonce and rapper husband Jay Z, but also with NBA star LeBron James, who presented them with a custom-made jersey for Prince George, with number 1 on it.
During this particular press call, LeBron, who also goes by “King James,” reached out and touched the Duchess for a photo, like you would normally do when posing for a picture with friends. The problem is that the Duke and Duchess aren’t friends – they’re royals and they’re not supposed to be touched.
A breach of protocol
The only way in which a regular person can touch a royal is if said royal reaches out to them, extending their hand for a handshake. That’s probably the most one can hope for at a meeting with a royal: a royal handshake and the opportunity to exchange a few words.
Obviously, you can’t hug or kiss a royal like we’d do in certain European countries when being introduced to someone new. Not even a side-hug is allowed, so LeBron’s gesture is a big no-no in terms of protocol.
You can see how the whole thing played out in the first video below. Kate seems rather confused / awkward about it, but she quickly recovers and puts on her brightest smile and handles the situation like a pro. LeBron, on the other hand, probably didn’t realize what he’d done wrong until later.
The second video is with the royals meeting with Beyonce and Jay and hanging out courtside for the game.
Piers Morgan is not amused
The former CNN host was on Rachael Ray’s show last night, and in between showing off his cooking skills he also discussed the royals’ stateside visit. He was not amused by LeBron’s gesture and half-jokingly, half-seriously informed him that one must never touch a member of the royal family “unless they ask you to touch them or extend their hand.”
“You do not put your arm around the future Queen of England!” Morgan said. “LeBron James, you may call yourself King James – you are not a real king. Prince William is going to be my King, that was his wife – hands off the Duchess… Do not touch the royals! They are immortal creatures. If they extend a hand, you gently touch it and say, ‘Hello.’ You do not put your sweaty arm, after a game of basketball, around a member of the royal family.”
Morgan might have tried to pass his commentary as a joke, but if you know him in the least, you probably know already that he’s only joking and laughing on the outside: if there’s anything he can do, that’s to take certain matters very seriously.
A breach of royal protocol is definitely among those things he would never show any kind of leniency about. To someone familiar with the rules to behaving around royalty, LeBron’s gesture might come across as an unfathomable faux pas, but to most Americans, it was probably just a misguided gesture of friendship and warmth.
Occasionally, Piers Morgan could do with a chill pill. If the Duchess didn’t mind it (all that much), why should he?
